LCD swap from 48SX to 48GX?

[x...@x.com]

48GX with smashed LCD.

48SX fine.

Obiously I would like to use the 48SX LCD with the 48GX calc. What would be
the best way to go about this?

Thanks

[Raymond Hellstern]

Hi,

I wouldn't put the (extremely low contrast) SX display into a GX,
even if it worked.
I think it's easier to replace the the GX for a new one.
AFAIK, the latest hardware rev of the GX has a much better (readable)
display
than the ones made up to last year.

Raymond

<x...@x.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:ts48ql...@corp.supernews.com...

[Jonathan Busby]

Well, it should be possible to replace your GX's broken lcd with the
SX one because AFAIK the lcd interface for the two calcs is the same.
But the question is : Is it worth it? The SX screen has extremely bad
contrast even compared to the "old style" ( around 1995 to recently )
GX screens. Also, HP has recently started to manufacture GX's with new
high contrast "black on white" LCD technology ( FSTN? ) that totally
blows away the old GX "dark blue on green" screen ( not to mention the
horrid SX screen ). I recently had an occasion to compare my new GX
with someone's 49 and the GX screen actually looked better! To top it
off, you can get GX's for ultra cheap nowadays. One place that carries
the GX's with the new screen is http://www.wholesaleadvantage.com/ for
a price of $128.50 USD. ( Incidentally this is where I bought mine ;)
You also might try contacting HP as they've been known in the past to
replace calcs with broken screens for a discounted price.

If that didn't sway you then consider this: Goto
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search and search for
"+(broken OR cracked OR damaged OR replace) +(lcd OR screen OR
display)" (minus the quotes) in comp.sys.hp48. Now browse through some
of the posts. After a while you'll get a general idea of how extremely
difficult it is to do lcd surgery properly. Is it really worth the
effort and frustration? IMHO It's not ;).

Anyways, if you still want to go through with this perilous endeavor
then here are some helpful links ;) :

Various Ways of opening the calculator:
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~drury/oldhp/how2open.htm
http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/opening/how2open.tgz
( ^ Tar'ed, gzip'ed version of above. )
http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/opening/addhrd48.zip
http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/opening/ram-g.zip
http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/opening/openitup.txt
http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/opening/opencook.zip
http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/opening/openhp48.zip
( ^ This last one is particularly interesting because the author
claims you can open the case *without damaging it* and *using only one
tool* :)

For the actual process of removing/replacing the lcd see the myriad of
informative posts on the subject that you browsed earlier :).

Hope this helps...

P.S. On a side note, if that SX is in good condition you might want to
sell it on ebay. That place is crawling with HP fanatics ( of which I
am one ;) who sometimes pay ridiculously high prices for not so
old/rare calculators. Then you could buy two GX's ;).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jonathan Busby - <jdb@UH!ESPRLhouston.rr.com>

Remove the random permutation of "HPRULES!" from my e-mail address
before replying.

[R. G. Newbury]

Your best route may well be to swap the 48SX for a new GX at your
nearest repair centre. This costs about 1/2 the new price of a GX,
which is a really good 'trade-in' for an SX.

For example: in Canada, list price for GX is $270 Cdn, and the
trade-in swap is $130 CDN

I'm picking mine up this afternoon.

And any cards you have for the SX will work in the GX.

Geoff

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